Source

Primary source - renewable energy like solar, wind, geothermal

Secondary source - non-renewable energy generated through the conversion of coal, oil, natural gas etc.

The Government has up-scaled the target of renewable energy capacity to 175 GW by the year 2022 which includes 100 GW from solar, 60 GW from wind, 10 GW from biopower and 5 GW from small hydro-power.

Installed power generation capacity in India

The total installed capacity in India from renewable energy on April, 2016 is 42,800 MW. Majority of the total capacity is developed by the State sector accounting for about 39 per cent (app.) followed by Private sector for

about 31 per cent (app.) and Centre hold about 29 per cent (app.) each.

6.1 SOLAR ENERGY

India is one of the few countries naturally blessed with long days and plenty of sunshine. There are two ways we can produce electricity from the sun light:

♤ Photovoltaic Electricity - uses photovoltaic cells that absorb the direct sunlight to generate electricity

♤ Solar-Thermal Electricity - uses a solar collector that has a mirrored surface which reflects the sunlight onto a receiver that heats up a liquid. This heated up liquid is used to make steam that produces electricity.